Tenderly
by Miah-Chan
Summary: Uzumaki Naruto is in immediate need of some tender-loving-care from his favorite pink-haired kunoichi! Will she give in to his request or leave him fending for himself? Naru/Saku fluff! No definitive pairing, though it is strongly hinted. Rated T for hints of nudity.


Hello my dear readers! :D ***waves frantically***I've missed you guys so much! ***glomps all followers/readers*****  
**It's been a very long time since I've posted anything here; I apologize for my absence, but due to college, it's been tough finding time to actually relax and write. In fact, I've only just begun writing fanfiction again very recently; it's been a couple of years since I've even had the inspiration or desire to write anything at all. (That happens when college sucks the life out of your creative brain cells with multiple research papers...)  
I will not guarantee that I will be posting a great number of new works...I wish I could, but I know that as the semester progresses, my duties will lie in class and homework. However, I am going to make a huge effort to continue writing for _fun_ again; I have very much missed this form of creation, and I have very much missed you guys. :3  
Well, without further delay, I present to you **"Tenderly"**, a Naru/Saku oneshot. This is a one-shot set sometime _after_ the Fourth Ninja War (though the only hint of that is my use of Kyuubi's true name). In this fic, I've tried to portray a gentleness I sometimes find within Naruto and Sakura's relationship; oftentimes you see it more with Naruto, so I wanted to show it from Sakura's perspective. They are not necessarily "together" in this fic, but take it as you like. :3  
I hope you enjoy! :D

**Disclaimer:** Miah-Chan **_does not _**own Naruto or any of it's characters. All belong to Kishimoto-sama. :)

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**Tenderly**

"Haruno-san!"

Sakura looked up at the sound of her assistant calling her from her office doorway; the young brunette was smiling a little shyly as she waited for permission to enter her superior's office. Sakura returned the smile and waved her in, replying, "Yes?"

"I have a message from Uzumaki-san," the nurse murmured, holding back the giggle at the exasperated expression Sakura now wore. Sakura nodded, rubbing her forehead wearily.

"Another? Didn't he call fifteen minutes ago?" she asked, looking at the nurse helplessly. The younger woman nodded, fidgeting as she repeated the message given to her from the blonde; "He says it's very urgent and that he requires your assistance immediately."

Sakura snorted, even as she rose to remove her lab jacket, answering, "He said the same thing last time he called." As the nurse began to retort, Sakura shook her head, interrupting with, "I'll head over there now. Thank you for bearing with me, Nami. I know he can be a handful." She grinned as the brunette blushed before leaving the hospital to make her way to Naruto's home.

She arrived at his apartment in time to hear a large crash and immense, colorful cursing ensue. Giggling behind her hand, she knocked calmly before walking in without waiting for an answer; from the sounds of it, he wouldn't have heard her knocks anyway.

She found the blonde hopping around in his kitchen on one foot, howling in pain and cursing the pot at his feet, which had apparently been his attempt to make some kind of soup—likely ramen, though why he didn't just make the instant-cups she didn't know—and had now spilt its scorching contents onto the kitchen tiles.

Sakura shook her head; only Naruto would still attempt to make ramen with both arms confined to casts up to his elbows with just his fingers able to move independently.

"I guess it really _was_ an emergency; you couldn't get your ramen." She finally said in amusement, gaining the blonde's attention and ceasing his howls. He stopped his hopping, turning on his heel to face her; Sakura groaned as his he slipped on the soup, falling face-first towards the floor, arms stretched out to catch himself.

She saved him from his fate, ducking low to grab him around the waist and setting him in a chair before he realized what had happened. She then proceeded to clean up the mess he'd made as he seemed to find his voice again.

"Sakura-chan! You're finally here!" he exclaimed, waving his encased arms in the air. Sakura sighed, turning from the sink and placing her hands gently on the casts, lowering his arms.

"Yes, no thanks to your constant harassment of my assistant," she mock-growled at him, now placing her hands on her hips. "And stop waving your arms around like that! You're nearly healed, you don't need to go reopening the wounds and having to keep the casts on even longer."

Naruto sniffed, attempting to cross his arms over his chest, unsuccessfully in the end, as he muttered sourly, "Well, if Kurama would stop being a prick and lend me his chakra, I'd have been healed by now!"

Sakura raised a brow and retorted just as sourly, "Well, if _you_ hadn't antagonized that Iron kunoichi, you wouldn't have received those two bone-deep gouges in your forearms, thus requiring immense stitching and those casts." Naruto grinned sheepishly at her, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.

"Yeah, well, she had it coming! She wouldn't hand over our scroll, even though I said 'please'!" Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Sure, if 'please' qualifies as a synonym for 'please, hag, I could take that scroll from you with my arms tied behind my back'. Is it any wonder she decided to take you seriously by offering to remove your arms completely?" She held up a hand, stalling his ensuing excuses, and inquired, "Never mind that; what's done is done. What did you need my help with so urgently for, anyway?"

Naruto cleared his throat and she watched in surprise as his cheeks turned a light shade of pink. He fidgeted in his seat, adverting his eyes as he murmured, "Well, uhm, you see, I…I kind of need…well, Shikamaru and the rest of the guys refused, and…well…"

"Spit it out Naruto," Sakura growled, planting her hands on her hips as she tapped her foot impatiently. Naruto cleared his throat again and said quickly, his eyes not meeting hers, "I-need-a-shower-and-I-can't-wash-my-hair-with-the se-casts-on—"

Sakura's eyes widened as she deciphered what he'd said from that rushed confession; her foot ceased in its tapping as she stared at the blonde's bowed head and hunched shoulders.

'_He's embarrassed,_' she realized, noting the red tint hugging his hairline and base of his neck. Smiling slightly, she cleared her throat, finally replying, "Oh, well…if _that's_ all…"

His gaze snapped up to meet hers in shock, embarrassment momentarily forgotten. Sakura shrugged and looked him over with a critical eye, saying lightly, "I guess you're right; you do need a good wash. Let's get you cleaned up; when's the last time you had a shower, anyway?"

Naruto laughed nervously, standing from his seat and moving to show her to his bathroom as he answered, "Not too long ago, but Sai was the only one who would help me…" His voice lowered in agitation and Sakura held back a giggle; she could only imagine what Sai might have said during _that_ little bonding moment.

"Anyway, I tried to get Kiba or Shikamaru to help me, but they flat out refused; I didn't bother asking Neji or Shino, their answer would go without saying…Chouji is away on a mission, and there was no way I was asking Bushy-Brows…" he shrugged, but she could see how red the base of his neck was at the admission. Smiling, she herded him into his bedroom, disappearing into the bathroom briefly before tossing a towel on the bed for him.

"Get changed and I'll start the bath." Was all she said, disappearing into the bathroom again. She filled the tub with warm water, gathering a washcloth, a cup, the shampoo and body-wash, setting the items on the edge of the tub. Once she was done, she called out for Naruto to enter.

He came in, towel wrapped snugly around his waist; Sakura adverted her eyes politely from the way his toned stomach tapered down to defined hipbones, ignoring the sudden heat in her cheeks. She motioned towards the tub and turned away as he got in the water, folding the bottoms of her leggings up so that they were knee-high and kicking off her shoes. She sat on the edge of the tub, one foot in the warm water, the other on the cool tiles, and then proceeded to tie her hair up so that it didn't fall into her face.

"Turn so that your back is to me and place your arms on the other side of the tub so that your casts don't get wet," she instructed, placing both feet in the water while filling her hand with shampoo as he obeyed. She rubbed her hands together until she'd worked up a good lather, breathing in the scent of citrus before applying the soap to Naruto's blonde locks.

The pink-haired medic was quiet as she worked her fingers through his hair, massaging and combing the blonde mop, applying light pressure at times, then altering, using her nails to gently scratch at his scalp, massaging his temples and behind his ears. She smiled as she felt him relax, his shoulders slumping forward as he gave a purr of appreciation and contentment, eyes closed in bliss.

She continued washing his hair for a few minutes more than necessary, enjoying the feel of his soft tresses between her fingers as much as she enjoyed listening to his soft sounds of appreciation; eventually, however, she acknowledged that his hair was clean, choosing now to move her soapy hands over his neck and shoulders.

Sakura spread the excess bubbles over the small expanse of his skin before rinsing her hands off briefly, applying the spicy-scented body-wash to the washcloth and working it into a lather, barely missing a beat before she was scrubbing at his neck and shoulders gently. His purrs returned with a vengeance and she giggled softly; he didn't seem to notice, too caught up in the moment to care if she was laughing at him.

Sakura's jade eyes softened as she watched his expression from an angle; he'd been relatively tense in the beginning, but now only contented enjoyment played across his whiskered features. She continued to run the soapy washcloth over his shoulders, leaning forward to scrub just short of his elbows and the casts; she pulled back, running the cloth over his shoulder-blades and down his back, chuckling as he arched his spine into her touch. She leaned forward again, trailing the cloth across his abdomen, up his stomach and over the rest of his torso before dipping the cloth into the cooling water to rinse the soap from it.

Naruto groaned in disappointment and she chuckled, rapping her knuckles on his head softly as she turned the water back on, warming up the current tubful while taking the showerhead from its position on the wall, facing it away from Naruto as she started the shower spray. Once the water coming from the showerhead was warm, she took his right arm, gently lifting it so that the spray ran down his body, keeping the cast dry. She repeated the action with his left arm and then proceeded to wash the rest of the soap from his torso and back before turning off the showerhead. She kept the water running from the waterspout, however, and placed the cup beneath it, filling it.

"Tilt your head back," she instructed softy, enforcing the order by taking his chin and gently forcing his head back. He grunted softly, his eyes closed, features relaxed. She moved her hand to his forehead as she poured the water over his hair, shielding his eyes from the suds. She repeated her actions a few times, alternating between shielding his eyes and scrubbing at his hair to be sure she rinsed all the soap out. Finally satisfied, she replaced the cup on the side of the tub and stood, stretching briefly before stepping out.

She took a clean towel from the rack above the toilet, shaking it out before turning back to Naruto, who still sat in the tub, blinking owlishly as though he were coming out of a daze. Sakura smiled softly and silently took his bicep in her hand, helping him to stand and wrapping the fluffy towel round him as he shook the soaked one off, nudging it to the edge of the tub with his foot. He held the clean towel around his waist as Sakura took a second towel to scrub at his hair, drying it as best she could, before continuing the dry the water from the rest of his torso and back. She then helped him step from the bath and led out into his bedroom.

"Here, this will be the easiest to get on and off," she told him with a smile, holding out an orange bathrobe, the front open. Naruto stared at her a second before it processed she was offering to help him put it on; he stepped towards her, turning his back as she pulled his arm through one sleeve, then the other, before she came around him, belting the robe at his waist. Her jade eyes glanced up to meet his cerulean ones, soft and understanding, before she stepped back and asked for his towel, which he shook out from beneath the robe and handed to her. She turned, disappeared into the bathroom, and returned a few moments later, an armful of used towels before she left the room to dump them in his washing-machine.

Naruto watched in wonder as she returned, turning his bed down for him and ordering him to climb beneath the covers as she disappeared once more; deciding it was best to listen, he did as told, waiting for her to return.

It took a few moments, but she returned once more, this time bearing the gift of a full bowl of ramen. Naruto's eyes widened again, surprised, and he glanced up to catch her gaze.

She smiled, saying matter-of-factly, "You were attempting to fix dinner when I got here; it makes sense that you'd still be hungry. Now, open wide."

He did, his jaw dropping, though it was a reaction more derived from shock than obedience. She took the opportunity to feed him the ramen anyway, settling herself comfortably on the bed beside him and continuing the feed him his favorite meal.

One he had finished, Sakura placed a hand on his bare shoulder, pushing him back into the mattress until he lay down; she then brought his sheets up to cover him, effectively tucking him in. Naruto continued to stare at her in stunned silence; no one had _ever_ treated him with such consideration. That it was Sakura to be the first to do so amazed him.

Said kunoichi gave the blonde a gentle smile, leaning down and ruffling his damp hair fondly. Naruto grinned slightly at the playful gesture and said softly, "Thank you, Sakura-chan."

"Don't mention it," she replied, gathering the empty ramen bowl and used chopsticks. "I'll check on you in the morning; get some sleep."

Naruto grinned again, snuggling down in his covers as best he could, watching her with sleepy eyes as she made her way towards his bedroom door.

"Good night, Sakura-chan."

"Good night, Naruto."

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I hope you all enjoyed! I have been on a serious _Naruto_ fix lately, mostly due to having caught up (for the most part) with the manga; if you're not up-to-date, I won't ruin it for you but I _strongly_ urge you go read it _immediately_! :D It re-ignited my love for the anime/manga and ever since I've been reading it, watching the Shippuden episodes, the movies, and writing fanfiction about it. ^.^  
Sakura has gradually become one of my absolute _favorite_ characters; I know I've written some stories with her in them, but I was never really as fond of her as I am now.  
Having said that, I really hope you enjoyed reading this; I apologize if it's not up to par with anything I've written in the past...it was kind of a "I want to write this and I'm darn-well going to _right now_" kind of thing; I literally wrote it last night, lol.

Reviews are still appreciated and loved! I would _love_ to hear from you and know what you think of this newest addition to my works, as well as just to have a chance to say hello. ^.^

Miah-Chan

***Important Author-Note*** I also wanted to inform you all that I am currently working on a new NaruSaku story! With chapters and everything! ***cheers*** I know I've previously written SasuSaku (& I apologize for still having not completed "I Just Can't Live A Lie"; hopefully I will someday!) but along with my renewed love for the anime/manga as a whole, the NarutoXSakura pairing has pretty much become my OTP. I still enjoy SasuSaku, but currently NaruSaku has my heart in its grip. ^.^  
Keep a lookout for the new NaruSaku fic! I'm not promising to post it anytime in the immediate future (I want to get relatively deep within the story before I post, otherwise it may end up like "I Just Can't Live A Lie") but I do promise to post it eventually. I hope you'll all continue to wait patiently. ^.^ ***hugs***


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